Who would you go back to save?

[Oasis Nadrama]

It's the end of the story. The ship is infested. One or more entities are haunting it, capturing prey and using it for unknown and horrible purposes. Already unholy resin is invading all of the corridors, and you can swear you saw one shaft in the left corner drooling. The massive, impossible beast is roaming through the labyrinth, and you know encountering it will signify your end.







Not all hope is lost. You have a chance. You are on the threshold of the escape pod. You can make it.

Every muscle and nerve in your body is screaming at you to enter. To lock the door and to detach the pod. To say goodbye to the cosmic nightmare.

But... something is holding you back. You could save someone. Yeah, you WILL save someone.

Who inspires you this act of sublime bravery? What kind of goal leads you back in the depths, in one final, impossible, lethal challenge?

[SiL]

"All of the above".

People who wouldn't go back for Jonesy can f**k off.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I voted for all but the corpse one.

[BigDaddyJohn]

All of the above, while shitting my pants the whole time.

[solace97]

Adios folks , more room in the shuttle for me!

[Acid_Reign161]

I gotta be honest, I've thought about this scenario (and similar) a lot (for different movie franchises too, such as zombie apocalypse situations etc.

My initial autopilot reaction is to try save everyone (I guess because that's who I am in my head, and because it feels the 'right' thing to do)

HOWEVER...

After some deeper thought, I really don't think I would..

Take yourselves out of the 'fiction' for a minute and really *really* visualise this; you're in a station/ship with a hostile organism running rampant; you've seen a creature erupt from someone you knew, even if just work colleagues, seeing their deaths before your eyes will have impact. By some miracle, you have made it to an EEV, and all you have to do is PRESS THE BUTTON, and the nightmare ends for you. You're looking out into the single dark corridor leading to the escape pod, into the dark/blackness, steam erupting from pipes, sirens alarms blaring... you are terrified, shaking with anxiety, exhausted and out of breath from running, every noise has you jumping that there's something in the ceiling above you or waiting to snatch you away.. are you really, REALLY going back because that person who said "morning!" As you walked by to start your shift each day, MIGHT still be alive somewhere.. or someone brought a pet aboard? I'm sorry I think people say what they think sounds "good" but the reality would be very different.

There are VERY select people I would go back for in this situation ( @Spicy-Nugget937 id try for whether I could be sure she were alive or not, though I hope with every fibre of my body that if roles were reversed she would get herself to safety and trust that if I'm alive I'll find a way to get to her) beyond a small group of people, I'd be pressing that button. It wouldn't be a "f**k you" or "I don't care" - it's be basic survival instincts, and I'd do everything in my power to get word out for help in case of other survivors, but no. I'm out of there.. Xenomorph encounter survival rates are *extremely* low.

Hell, you wanna see who your true friends would be; play a game of 'Warzone' with your squad... if a team mate is downed, I'm always first to solo take on a team of 4 to get them up... sometimes I succeed, sometimes I die, but I always try... and then I started noticing in reverse situations, when I was downed I'd get a lot of "I don't think I'll get to you mate" and then the spectating cam kicks in and you see they were miles away running the opposite direction to get themselves to safety 🤣 and that's in a god damn video game lol. There's probably one dude in my circle of friends that I think might try in a real situation haha, and the others I think would feel bad, but would make reasons to justify leaving to themselves like "I have a family, gotta get back to them" etc etc.

In all these movies, PEOPLE are the biggest problem.

Nah, I don't think many here are really going back for co-workers or colleagues pets, let's be honest 🤣 there'd be a lot of "thoughts and prayers" jestures 🤣

[Neila]

HOWEVER...
After some deeper thought, I really don't think I would..

I am absolutely with you here.
 What you wrote in your post is most realistic.
We had "simulated" almost the same situation in an older thread:

I seriously wonder if anyone would actually take the cat. So if it's on the way, sure, but would someone who is just in front of the shuttle and at the saving destination, so to speak, actually go back?
I think with these films we sometimes lose touch with the intensity of the situation because we know it so well.
If there really was an alien there, I don't think anyone would turn back for a cat.
Just compare it to a skyscraper with a hungry lion running around and you don't know where he is. You know your cat is on the second or third floor, would you actually go in again?

I would also like to add that one would certainly go back for a close family member.
Some people claim that they would also go back for their pet because they see it as a full member of the family.
That sounds very honorable but I really doubt that they would actually do it in the situation mentioned.

[Spicy-Nugget937]

I agree with @Acid_Reign161 and @Neila human survival instincts are very strong and it's in our nature to maybe be selfish and try to preserve our own life. I would try to go back for someone who I was close to and loved, but as an animal lover, who truly loves animals more than people sometimes, I still don't know if I'd risk it to go back for my cat. It would be better at defending itself that I could anyway 

[BigDaddyJohn]

The ship's gonna blow up, so even if the cat "defend itself", he's still gonna die.

[Acid_Reign161]

Ok, let's think of this another way; if you have made it to the escape pod and only need to choose to press button, then really, you're "out" and are assessing whether you want to re-enter that hell to save work colleagues and/or their pet.

So let's put this into real world terms; a neighbouring country has invaded yours and is slaughtering civilians; explosions, gunfire, people dying everywhere. You've made it to the train that's leaving to a bordering safe country; are you jumping on, or going back into that hell to see if anyone at your 9-5 workplace is still alive, or checking if their pets are ok?

I honestly don't believe anyone is doing that. I get the whole "wishing/wanting" to help, but in the moment, you're getting the f**k out of there, and likely those folk wouldn't be on you mind until after your head had cleared on your way across the boarder, where you'd be "damn I hope everyone made it".

Movie magic is a wonderful thing; we'd all love to be that hero that single handedly walks into and takes on a xeno hive carrying two weapons, despite the fact an entire squad of highly trained marines armed to the teeth were wiped out... but the reality is that isn't happening... and if I woke up cocooned to the wall with an ovomorph in front of me, there's no Ripley-esque character that I've only known for better part of 48hours doing a solo routine to get to me. I'm dead. 😂

EDIT: and on that thought, if you do go back to save Shirley from HR's cat Mr. Bigglesworth, get caught by a xeno... when you open your eyes and see that ovomorph open in front of you, parasite legs crawling over the rim ready to pounce, I sincerely doubt your last thought is going to be "ah well, least I tried; totally worth it" 🤣


 

[SM]

How is 'trying to save one person or animal in a relatively small area and get out on an escape pod that you have control over' even remotely the same as 'fleeing with thousands of others in a mass exodus to a train which could leave any second to search a large area'?

[SiL]

People run into burning houses to save pets and family members all the time. Sometimes they die in the process.

"But they're just coworkers!"

Sure, read about what people were doing as the Twin Towers were burning.

Running away and saving yourself is a very human reaction, but so is going back to help people.

[Acid_Reign161]

How is 'trying to save one person or animal in a relatively small area and get out on an escape pod that you have control over' even remotely the same as 'fleeing with thousands of others in a mass exodus to a train which could leave any second to search a large area'?

Choosing to enter a highly dangerous area and put your life at risk instead of fleeing to safety, for people/animals you have little to no emotional attachment to (looking at the criterion given by OP) for the sole benefit of telling yourself you're a good person. It's illogical. The likely outcome will be that they will all die anyway, and you died needlessly.

On the subject of going back for Jones, even Ripley didn't 'go back' for the cat.. she heard him meow on the bridge whilst prepping to evacuate with Parker and Lambert, and put him in the cat box because he was there... she didn't search the ship for him... upon approaching the shuttle, when encountering the alien, she left Jones to the alien and ran to stop the engines detonating when she was cut off from escape 🤣 she only picked him up again because, again, he was there as she approached the shuttle the second time... she definitely wasn't "going back" for him.

[SiL]

Choosing to enter a highly dangerous area and put your life at risk instead of fleeing to safety, for people/animals you have little to no emotional attachment to (looking at the criterion given by OP) for the sole benefit of telling yourself you're a good person. It's illogical. The likely outcome will be that they will all die anyway, and you died needlessly.

That doesn't answer his question at all.

Also, saying people would only go back to call themselves a good person is kind of f**king gross.

[Acid_Reign161]

People run into burning houses to save pets and family members all the time. Sometimes they die in the process.

"But they're just coworkers!"

Sure, read about what people were doing as the Twin Towers were burning.

Running away and saving yourself is a very human reaction, but so is going back to help people.

Well, it's heartwarming to know that when we're all stuck on a space station with a self-destruct timer counting and a xeno/s loose, that when I wake up on a wall covered in resin with a well-hung spider about to rape my face, that you'll be risking all and fighting tooth-and-nail to come and get me, without knowing if I'm even still alive or really knowing me in person at all 🤣 (I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies)